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This article was published on April 10, 2020

The world has less billionaires in 2020, but Jeff Bezos is still the richest

... for the third year in a row


The world has less billionaires in 2020, but Jeff Bezos is still the richest

It’s been said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has given nature room to heal, but it’s also had an affect on the world’s billionaires: They’re fewer.

There are 2,095 billionaires today, down from 2,153 in 2019, according to Forbes’ billionaire list for 2020 published this week. They’re also slightly poorer on average, with a combined net worth of $8 trillion — down from $8.7 trillion last year.

A record 1,062 billionaires saw their fortunes decline, “both reflective of the turbulent markets and the coronavirus pandemic,” said Forbes. WeWork’s ousted CEO Adam Neumann dropped from the rankings entirely.

[Read: Amazon warehouse worker tests positive for coronavirus day after Bezos visit]

Forbes noted the US still has the most billionaires with 614, trailed by greater China (which includes Macao and Hong Kong) with 456.

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Four of the top 10 billionaires are tech execs

Global pandemic or not, Jeff Bezos persists as the richest person in the world.

Amazon’s CEO is noted to be worth $113 billion, sitting atop the list for the third time running  even after Bezos recently paid $38 billion to ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos as part of their divorce.

Coincidentally, novelist-slash-philanthropist MacKenzie Bezos made her debut on this year’s rich list at number 22. Another notable entry is embattled Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, who debuted on the list at #293 with a healthy $5.5 billion.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is number two (again) with an estimated personal net worth of $98 billion, an increase of $1.5 billion from 2019.

Bezos Bezos Bezos

In fact, tech’s gurus are killing it: four of Forbes’ official 10 richest billionaires are technology execs.

Oracle’s technology chief Larry Ellison is the fifth-richest with $66.2 billion. Facebook’s adult-wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg is seventh, worth $54.7 billion.

Microsoft’s former chief exec Steve Ballmer also continues to hang around. While certainly loaded, Ballmer was only worth $52.7 when Forbes generated its final rankings, which meant he didn’t quite make the grade.

Neither did Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whose roughly $50 million fortunes put them in 13th and 14th place.

You can check out the full 2020 index of the world’s billionaire’s here.

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